Nixon’s “Silent Majority” Speech

November 3, 1969

1969-11-03-Nixon-Silent-Majority-Speech
1969-11-03-Nixon-Silent-Majority-Speech
Secretary of Housing and Urban development George M. Romney, journalist Barbara Walters, and President Nixon stand at a desk covered with responses to the president’s “Silent Majority” speech of November 3, 1969. (National Archives)

Hoping to regain the initiative after the October Moratorium demonstrations, President Nixon gives a nationally televised speech addressing America’s “deep division about Vietnam.” He explains his plan for ending the war through Vietnamization, negotiation, and the withdrawal of American troops according to a gradual timetable. Nixon also asks the “great silent majority” of Americans to support his Vietnam policies.

The speech is the centerpiece of the administration’s coordinated response to the October 15 “Moratorium” that includes official press releases and public statements by Vice President Spiro Agnew and other administration officials. The speech and the wider public relations effort sustain majority public support for the President. Polls conducted afterward indicate that 77 percent of respondents approve of his plan to end the war. Still, a majority also feel that antiwar dissenters raise questions that should be examined.1